Environmentalists urge shift from diesel generators

MATT JOYCE

Published
6:00 pm CST, Wednesday, January 1, 2003

Associated Press Writer

A coalition of Texas environmental groups on Thursday called on the state to tighten restrictions on the use of stationary diesel generators and pointed to a city of Austin fuel cell as an example of an alternative energy source.

Diesel generators commonly are used as back-up energy sources for buildings such as offices and hospitals in case of power outages. In a report released Thursday, Public Citizen and the Texas Public Interest Research Group said the generators could emit enough nitrogen oxide, a smog-forming chemical, to potentially derail the state's attempts to meet federal air-quality standards.

"Diesel generators are the forgotten smokestacks of electricity production," said Luke Metzger, advocate for the Texas Public Interest Research Group.

Representatives of the two groups gathered at the Rebekah Baines Johnson Health Center in Austin to present their report. The hospital is home to a diesel generator and a city of Austin fuel cell.

Larry Alford, manager of distributed generation for Austin Energy, said the fuel cell generates electricity by combining hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air in an electrochemical process. The fuel cell's only byproducts are water and heat. Alford said he knows of three other such fuel cells in the state.

The fuel cell is clean but expensive. The Austin cell cost $1.2 million to install, which equals $6,000 per kilowatt, Alford said. By comparison, the diesel generators cost $250 to $300 per kilowatt to install, he said.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality does not track all diesel power generators in the state, according to the report that estimates there could be more than 33,000 units emitting four tons of nitrogen oxide each day. The report also cites cancer risks associated with diesel exhaust.

"What we're basically trying to communicate is (stationary diesel generators) are everywhere and they're very hazardous to human health, and we want to get them cleaned up through regulation and legislation," said Amanda Buehler, clean energy coordinator with Public Citizen's Texas office.

The groups called for the commission to limit the use of emergency back-up units to 100 hours a year, prohibit running the units for maintenance in the morning _ the time when most smog forms _ and require the use of low-sulfur fuels.

David Schanbacher, chief engineer for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the commission already has implemented the 100-hour limit and restricted maintenance to the mornings in the Houston-Galveston area. The generators are not required to use low-sulfur diesel, but federal and state agencies will implement that requirement in the next few years, he said.

While the commission does not have a complete tally of the number of diesel generators, it has required permits for buildings with new or modified generators since 2001.

Schanbacher said that the tighter restrictions that apply to Houston and Galveston are not being considered on a statewide basis now, but they could be in the future.

Commission spokesman Patrick Crimmins said the Dallas-Fort Worth area might be the logical next location for tighter restrictions.

"That's a policy decision," he said. "There's nothing in the pipeline right now."